


The Bonds of Innocence

by MoonshineEvelyn



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: 1980s, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Animals, Boys In Love, Butterfingers is a kitten, Child Abuse, Childhood Trauma, DUM E is a kitten, Endgame trauma, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, M/M, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tony Stark has all my uwus
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-05
Updated: 2019-05-11
Packaged: 2020-02-26 16:27:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18720754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MoonshineEvelyn/pseuds/MoonshineEvelyn
Summary: Tony Stark is a 12 year old who finds solace in hiding in his barn when things get rough at home.Steve Rogers is a 14 year old helping his mother work in the Stark's barn.Their worlds collide. Tony hates Steve's pragmatism. Steve hates Tony's incredulity.All Edwin hopes is that somewhere in all this, Anthony gets a friend.Can they? Become friends?(The author is pretending that Endgame doesn't exist and is indulging herself in fantasies where her precious babies aren't hurt, for most part. Please humor her. x)





	1. Chapter one

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone. This is my first fic. I am extremely nervous. I hope y'all like it. 
> 
> I have some concepts in mind to address the tragedy that Endgame was but first imma indulge myself in some make-believe.
> 
> Here goes nothing

He could hear them fight again.  
  
Instinct told him to hide. There was no purpose in going out and observing the fight again. The scene would be the same as yesterday or the day before or the day before that or even a week before that. His father would be reeking of alcohol, screaming at his mother for the smallest mistake. Sometimes it was the salt in the food, sometimes it was the stain on the table, sometimes it was the garbage in the corner. Sometimes Tony wondered if his parents even needed a reason to fight. They seemed like they could pick anything out of the blue and fight about it.  
  
There were times when Tony got caught in the middle of the fight. Once he had been eating dinner when his father came back from work. Tony greeted his father and told him about the class trip his school was taking him to the next day. He could not wait to go to the zoo and see all the animals. His father proceeded to chide Tony for his unnecessary enthusiasm for watching animals in a cage. When Tony tried to argue his case, his father’s mood turned sour. He went to bed with a split lip and bruises on his arm. His mother made him miss school the next day. She said he needed time to heal. Tony was smarter than that. He knew he couldn’t go in public with his bruises and expose to the world the reality of the Stark household. He went to bed that night and drew the covers over his head. He opened a picture book of animals and switched on the torch he had stolen from the garage. In the darkness of the night, under the covers, Tony looked at the pictures and imagined what it would be like to see the animals. He trailed his small fingers through the pictures. If he closed his eyes, he could almost see the animals at the zoo and having fun with his friends.  
  
Needless to say, after several instances of becoming the victim to his father’s moods, Tony did everything he could to not be in the same room as his father for more than a few minutes. He took his dinner early and spent a good portion of the time hidden away in some obscure corner of the house. Initially, Tony had tried hiding in his room. But his father would come and find him and it never ended well for Tony. The easiest were the laundry room and the kitchen. Ana would sometimes spot Tony hiding in the kitchen and would give him a pat or a kiss on his cheek. Sometimes she would warn Tony to run away when she saw Howard approaching. The servant’s quarter was another favourite place to hide. Howard never came anywhere around Jarvis’s home. Sometimes Tony would find broken appliances or a fused light in Jarvis’s quarter and would fix it for him in exchange for providing him haven. The barn, however, was Tony’s solace. It was located at the extreme end of the property. Maria Stark kept livestock on the property and the barn was spacious enough to accommodate various animals. Tony hid a small blanket, a pillow, two bottles of water and some snacks in one corner, under the hay, for when things got really worse. A week ago, his parents had been fighting with each other about something. Tony couldn’t make out the words but he could hear the screams reverberating the walls of the house. He had tried hiding in the closer, burring himself behind the clothing and had put him palms on his ears to muffle the noise. His heart was thumping, anticipating the moment the fight would escalate and result in him taking blows. The cacophony in the house was unsettling and he wanted to run away. So he did. He ran to the barn. He had spent the night curled into himself, prying for warmth. He was cold throughout the night but it was safer than being at home. The next day, he had bought socks and few sweaters to be added to the pile.  
  
Tonight, it didn’t seem any different. Tony’s school had sent his parents a letter about a fight that had occurred in the school. Rumlow and his minions had been bullying Bruce and Tony had pushed away Rumlow’s looming presence to rescue his friend and Rumlow instead directed his fury at Tony. Rhodey and Thor had come in time to save Tony but the teachers had come to stop the fight. The blame was easily passed on to Tony. He was, after all, the first to shove away Rumlow. His teacher had sent a report of the fight to Howard.  
  
“Where is that insufferable boy? Thinks he’s strong enough to beat people up now? Where is he? Let me show him what strength is” Howard roared in the dining area.  
  
“Howard, my dear, it was a scuffle among boys at school. It happens. Leave it be. Lets go to bed” Maria tried to cajole him.  
  
“Do not tell me what to do, woman! WHERE IS THE BOY?”  
  
Tony could hear loud footsteps coming towards his room. It was too late. He couldn’t run away now. He closed his eyes tight and whimpered at what he knew was coming his way. Howard wasn’t always violent. For most part, he would say something mean and go away, Tony’s ears still ringing from the verbal abuse. But there were times that he turned physically violent. Tony had an inkling that today might be such a day.  
  
The door banged open. “So you think you can beat people up now? Is that it? Become too strong, have you now?”  
  
Tony did not need to open his eyes to see his father looming over him.  
  
“Look me in the eye when I talk to you, boy!” A blow on his left side sent Tony stumbling to his right. He barely registered the pain before another gust of pain exploded on his thigh. Tony’s eyes flew open in shock and he saw the third punch coming to his gut. He clutched his middle and curled into a ball on the floor. He tried smoothing a hand over the left flank in an attempt to soothe the pain. Sobs wracked his body as Tony attempted feebly to rub his side in an effort to lessen the pain.  
  
Howard stood over the child. Pathetic. That’s what he was. His son, a weakling. Maybe he would give it time. The boy would toughen up. Grow a thick skin. Stark men were made of Iron. And this boy was not it.  
  
Howard spat on the ground near his son’s head. “Pathetic”, he exclaimed and left the room. Maria trailed quietly behind him.  
  
Jarvis waited in the shadows until his masters were out of sight. He asked Ana to look out and stepped into the young master’s room quietly. Anthony was still lying down on the floor, curled in a ball. Jarvis stepped up to the boy and crouched beside him. With careful touches, he examined the boy. He seemed to have taken hits to his left side mostly. The skin was starting to colour. Anthony had snot and tears running down his face. Even in pain, the boy did not utter a word. What a sad thing, for a boy so young to learn to muffle his cries. Jarvis pulled a kerchief out of his pocket and wiped Anthony’s face and shushed him gently. He ran his hands through the boy’s hair. He sat beside the boy for a while, gently patting and comforting him. When the sobs subsided, he gently lifted the boy in his arms. Anthony’s hands went around his neck and clutched Jarvis with a death grip. Jarvis carefully tightened his hold on the boy and squeezed his eye, willing himself not to cry. He walked around the room and placed the boy on the bed. Prying his hands away from his neck, Jarvis pulled the covers and attempted to put the boy to bed.  
  
“Sleep now, young master. I will ask Ana to make you some pastry tomorrow. Would you like that?” Jarvis asked the boy. He noted the small nod the boy gave.  
  
“Jarvis” Ana cautioned from the door. Maria Stark came to check the house each night before going to bed and spoke to the household staff about the next day’s routine. Jarvis was running out of time. He nodded at his wife at the door.  
  
“I need to go, young master. I will see you tomorrow morning. Sleep well” he whispered to the boy.  
  
Anthony nodded and Jarvis walked out his room carefully.  
  
Tony willed himself to sleep but he could still smell his father in the room. The stench of alcohol had permeated into the room and in his clothing. He knew he wasn’t going to be able to sleep in the room. He wanted to hide away for a little while, go somewhere else and pretend that he didn’t have to live this life. He waited for the entire household to become quite. When he could not hear anything outside his door, he carefully padded to the window. He lifted the lock and opened the window with caution and jumped out and closed the window with enough gap left so that he could manoeuvre himself back into the room in the morning. He walked across the property with measured steps. Each step hurt his side but the knowledge of knowing that he would sleep far away from his father trumped the pain and Tony pulled himself to his haven.  
  
With a few grunts of pain, Tony managed to build a bed. A thin layer of hay served as his bed. He covered the hay with a sheet and threw a pillow to one side. He pulled on an extra layer of clothing and sipped a few gulps of water.  
  
He spotted a grey figure moving towards him. “Dummy”, he whispered excitedly and beckoned the kitten to himself. The kitten promptly jumped on his lap.  
  
“Missed me, boy?” he asked the kitten who nuzzled his neck. He took that as an affirmation and cuddled the cat to his chest. “Me too, boy. Let’s get warm. Let me tell you about the things that Miss Hill taught to us in class today”. He pulled the kitten to himself and burrowed them both under the blanket. He told Dummy about school, about experimenting with Bruce, about Rhodey and his crush on Carol. He told the kitty about the extra serving of pancakes Ana gave him after breakfast.  
  
Somewhere between petting the stray kitten and muttering excitedly about his mundane days, the boy fell asleep.


	2. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The barn is a mess. Jarvis seeks help. Enter Steve.

Tony’s visits to the barn became regular.  
  
Sometimes he went there out of sheer boredom and other times, to escape his parents. He would go there and gently run his hands on the horse’s muzzle. He would climb empty crates and brush their mane while murmuring gentle words. The donkeys were easier to reach for him. They were also more affectionate towards him. He would play with lambs, placing them on his lap and cooing at them. Even though these were one sided friendships, Tony cherished them with his whole heart.  
  
In time, Tony found another kitten lurking around in barn. It was a black cat with white spots on its ears and back. Tony named it Butterfingers. Dummy and Butterfingers became partners in crime and raised hell in the barn. They would sneak into the Horse pen and spook the poor animals out. They would scare the chickens and cause them to run around in the whole barn. Maria was becoming increasingly frustrated with her Barn becoming a place of chaos every day. Every time she walked into the barn, it would be a mess. She decided that additional help was needed and asked Jarvis to employ someone to help keep the barn in tow.  
  
Jarvis went to the town the next day. He had several tasks to be completed. Ana had asked him to bring berries. She wanted to make pastries for the Young Master. He knew that his lack of children in the marriage meant that both he and Ana cared for Anthony more than their job required. Anthony’s face would light up like the sun whenever Ana made him something sweet, just for the boy. Jarvis went about the town looking for the most ripe, luscious berries. He made his way to the local store where he brought the weekly groceries for the household. After taking everything he was asked to bring, he moved towards the front of the store where he knew the fruits were kept. He spotted strawberries and smiled instantly. Anthony would love strawberry pastries. Picking them up, he moved to the counter to greet Baron.  
  
“Hello Baron. How are you? How is the family?”  
  
“Jarvis! I am good. Family is good too. My sister in law is in town with her son.” Baron said, while adding up the prices of the items on Jarvis’s cart.  
  
“Oh. That must be nice, having a little family reunion.”  
  
“Yes, but I wish it were in better circumstances. Sarah’s husband passed away a few months ago. She moved town to look for jobs. My wife and I are looking after her for now. But its so hard these days, you know? Margy and I have enough trouble feeding our children, let alone two more people.”  
  
Jarvis shook his head in sympathy. All things considered, his pay was good and he was housed and fed by Stark money. He knew he was better off than most people out there.  
  
And then it hit Jarvis.  
  
Maria Stark had asked him to look for someone to help with the barn. Jarvis knew that a room in the servant’s quarter would be provided for a full time help. Plus, if he woman had a child, maybe the child could become a company for the Young Master. Heavens knew that boy needed a friend in that household.  
  
“How old is Sarah’s son?” Jarvis asked cautiously.  
  
“Oh, Steve will turn 14 in a few months”. So he was a year older than Anthony. That was fine.  
  
“Baron, the Starks are looking for someone to look after the barn and the animals. It is a laborious job but comes with a room in the servant’s quarter and three meals a day. The pay is good and the child will be taken in if they help in the barn too. I do not know if it is the kind of job Sarah is looking for but in case she is interested, please ask her to come to the manor between 3 and 6 pm and meet me.” Jarvis said.  
  
“Thank you for the offer Jarvis. I will speak to Sarah” Baron promised with a smile.  
  
Jarvis paid for the groceries and left the store. He hoped the woman would accept the offer. He wanted Anthony to have a friend. The boy might think that his stray kittens and barn animals could be dutiful companions but a human friend would do him good too.  
  
……………….  
Steve helped his mother carry the bags into their room.  
  
As far as belongings went, they didn’t have much in their name. After his father passed away, it was all too easy to put their meager belongings together and leave town. His parents did odd jobs back at home. They never had much to their name, just enough to live by. They never gave Steve anything to complain about.  
  
The last few weeks had been difficult though. Uncle Baron had a family of his own and he and aunt Margy did all they could to accommodate his mother and him. But Steve knew that feeding two additional mouth could be difficult. When his uncle came home with the offer of working in the Stark barn, Sarah took no time to reply. She had been raised in the countryside. She knew enough about animals. She could do the job. She had heard enough about the Stark wealth, even from her own town, miles across. If she could do the job well, it would mean a secure future for Steve.  
  
And that’s what brought them here.  
  
Sarah had met Jarvis three days ago. They had sat with Maria Stark and discussed the terms of work. Sarah was to be given her own room and another for Steve. They would eat whatever was made in the kitchen, unless they chose to cook for themselves. The Stark’s would pay for Steve’s schooling, provided he contributed to the work in the barn. Mrs Stark had also cautioned them that the work her husband did was secretive and no household information, formal or otherwise, should be discussed with people outside the manor.  
  
The terms were easy to agree to and Sarah had agreed to move in immediately.  
  
Steve was a little overwhelmed. The last three months had passed by in a blur. One moment he was going about his day and the next, he had opened the door of his house to his mother hysterically crying because father had been coughing blood. It led to them spending weeks at the hospital, with the doctor being unable to diagnose the problem except for being able to apologize for the imminent death. On a quiet Sunday morning, Joseph Rogers had taken his last breath. A week after the funeral, Sarah had decided to move and Steve found himself sitting on a train and travelling across the country. Then they stayed at their uncle’s house and now this.  
  
It seemed as though one moment he was back at home, in his own little town and the next, he was here.  
  
The Stark manor was the most luxurious thing he had ever seen. The front of the house was open and spacious, with light streaming in through the ornate windows. He hadn’t seen much of it. They had walked into the foyer and were ushered to the servant’s quarter. The servant’s quarter were to the back of the house and had an entrance of its own. Steve had never had such a big bedroom to himself. Even back home in Brooklyn, his room has big enough to fit his cot and his chest of drawers. In the past few weeks, he had to sleep in the attic with his mother. This room had a bed to one side, a closet and drawers on the other side and a window that overlooked the back of the property. He could see the barn from his window.  
  
Having set their things, his mother and he walked to the barn. It was expansive and held 8 horses, four cows, a dozen sheep, few donkeys and a fluttering number of chicken. His mother tutted at the unorganized barn. The horses were in their closure but all the other animals were free to roam about. No wonder there was so much chaos here.  
  
Sarah and Steve sat there for a while discussing their tactics of trying to reorganize the barn. Sarah decided that she wanted to start from one corner and gradually move her way across. Steve noted down the things his mother dictated. Slabs of wood, cleaning tools and several other items were jotted down and Steve agreed to deliver them to Mrs Stark.  
  
After his mother and he retired for the day, Steve made his way to the front of the manor. He found Mrs Stark seated in the living room. She saw him approaching and smiled kindly at him.  
  
“Good evening Mrs Stark. My mother asked me to give this list of items to you. She believes we will need them to refurbish and clean the barn.” He said, handing over the paper to the woman. She took it and read it briefly and smiled at him.  
  
“I will see to it that these are purchased and stored. However, for such things, you must approach Edwin first. He handles everything related to the household”  
  
“Yes ma’am”  
  
“How are you liking your quarters? Do you have everything you need?”  
  
“Yes ma..”  
  
“Mother?” a voice called from the door. Steve turned to look at a boy standing beside the door. He was half hiding behind the door actually. He was a head shorter than Steve. The brown of his eye shone in the brightly lit foyer lights.  
  
“Yes, my love?”  
  
“Can I have dinner, please? It’s getting late” he said in a small voice. Steve glanced at the clock. What was the boy talking about? It was barely 6 pm. How was it dinner time?  
  
“You will have dinner with us today, my love. We are celebrating your father’s new contract”  
  
The boy visibly stiffened. He whispered something that sounded like “yes mama” had scurried away.  
  
“Well, Steve, you must be tired. Ana has made some stew, I believe. Please help yourself and get a good night’s sleep.”  
  
Steve nodded at the dismissal and made his way towards his mother.  
  
Who was the boy? He was clearly the son of Mrs Stark. But he hadn’t seen the boy up until today. He seemed younger than Steve. Steve wondered if the boy was friendly. He had good company back in Brooklyn. Bucky and Steve were joined at the hip since childhood. They were brothers till the end of the line. Bucky was one of the biggest part of his life that Steve missed after moving to the new town. He wondered if he could make a friend here.  
……………  
Tony sat with his hands on his lap.  
  
He looked down at his fingers as they played with the end of the tablecloth. Around him, the two adults sat yelling at each other. Tony was still hungry. He had the plate in front of him but he did not show any willingness of even lifting the fork. What if his movement caught Howard’s eye and then the anger would be directed towards Tony. Howard had apparently bagged a huge government contract. He had beat the Pym Industry to the deal. Howard was gloating about it when Maria reminded him that Janet was still her friend and part of their social circle and Howard shouldn’t be rude to them. And that had led to the inevitable. They had begun fighting.  
  
Tony’s stomach grumbled. He rubbed his stomach gently. He knew he had to wait for the fight to end to be able to sneak into the kitchen. Tony knew Ana wouldn’t deny him if he asked for food.  
  
Finally, Howard pushed his chair back, got up and threw the tablecloth on his plate and left. Maria huffed and walked in the opposite direction. Tony waited for both of them to be out of sight and then quickly walked over to the servant’s quarters.  
  
………..  
“Jarvis?” A voice called from the corner of the room. All the heads turned to the boy standing in the hallway, half hidden behind the door. What was with the boy and hiding behind doors?  
  
“Young Master, what are you doing here?” Jarvis asked, standing up from his chair.  
  
They were having dinner in the dining area in the servant’s quarter. Ana had made stew and bread. Ana and Jarvis sat in one corner, Steve and his mother on the other and a few cleaning staff sat one corner. Steve didn’t understand what Mr Stark’s son was doing here.  
  
“What did you make today? Can I have some, please?” he heard the boy ask. The boy had already moved to the kitchen counter and grabbed a plate and began piling it up with food without even waiting for permission.  
  
What was the point of asking if you were going to do it anyway?  
  
The rest of the servants in the room returned to their conversation? Was it normal for the boy to dine here?  
  
“Of course Anthony. Come join us” Ana greeted him and pulled the chair next to her for the boy to sit.  
  
Anthony. That was his name.  
  
Steve watched as the boy plopped himself on the chair and began eating and talking to the two people in front of him. The boy spoke a mile a minute and told Ana about his school, his teachers, his friends, his cats, his new circuit board, everything.  
  
Of course this boy would walk in here, take their food and chew their head off with his incessant yapping. They were all tired and exhausted from their day at work. This boy probably did nothing in his day. His life was handed to him on a silver platter. Why would he even need to work? Of course he’d just assume that everyone was jobless enough to sit and listen to his rambling.  
  
As the boy was finishing his meal, Steve saw Ana get up and retrieve something from the counter.  
  
“Now I know that you like these. I have made a batch of them but you will not have them all at once. Understood?”  
  
Whatever it was, it lit the boy’s face up like a blooming flowers. He clapped his hands ecstatically and made grabbing motions at Ana. She passed him a plate of – was that pastry? – to the boy who then took a bite and groaned as though it was heaven in his mouth.  
  
Steve saw Ana brush the boy’s hair affectionately and smile at her husband who was looking at the boy with a peculiar look on his face.  
  
Why was the son of the master of the manor eating with them?  
  
Steve was perplexed.  
  
…………..  
Steve walked into the barn a few days later. Something seemed off about the place. The horses looked disturbed. Whereas they were docile most morning, today they seemed on the edge. The chicken had apparently done rumba through the night, if the mess was a proof. They were making progress with the barn. Why did it keep reverting to such a mess?  
  
Steve heard a sound behind him.  
  
He turned.  
  
There, in front of him, stood the culprit, the bane of his existence, the creature who reigned chaos in the barn.  
  
A cat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Up next, Steve vs Dummy.


	3. Chapter three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter starts a little before the last scene of the previous one. 
> 
> Steve makes a discovery.

Steve and his ma were doing a good job at taking care of the barn.  
  
They knew they weren’t indispensable. The job was good and had benefits. Steve had a tendency of falling sick often, but with age, the tendency seemed to have deteriorated. Ever since his father’s passing, his mother had been obsessively saving money for medical emergencies. It seemed unnecessary but he knew his mother felt guilty. If they had more money, they had more money back then, they would have been able to see a doctor in a bigger town, who would have been able to diagnose his father and he would probably be alive today. He knew his mother did not want to lose Steve. So he let her be. If saving money for some unforeseen circumstances gave her peace, so be it.  
  
And that is precisely why they needed the job. With their housing and meal taken care of, there wasn’t much else they had to spend on. His mother and he both needed new shoes and clothing but beyond that, they could save majority of their money. The Starks managed to enroll Steve in a public school, where he went for few hours in the daytime. The fee wasn’t all that much and the school was government funded. So that didn’t make a huge dent in their saving. He of course did not go to the same school as Anthony. He went to the _‘rich people school’_ on the other part of the town. Steve scoffed. Just another one of those things handed to the boy on a silver platter.  
  
Steve had used his artistic skills to draw a map of the barn. His mother and he had divided the barn into sections. Each section was devoted to a specific animal. The horses had their own pen, big enough for them to live comfortable, but not too big for them to run around and create a mess. The horses lived around the property for the major part of the day and were confined to the barn only in the evening. The sheep and goat were put in another corner of the barn, with enough hay and padding for them to live comfortably. The enclosures for the animal were constructed by Steve. Jarvis had been kind enough to have the slabs of wood cut to the exact dimensions required but Steve had put all of it together and nailed them to the ground. The donkeys were to be put in their own enclosures soon. They were quite animals and as such, were placed next to the chicken, who for some reason, were the menace in the farm.  
  
The barn was a work in progress. Each day, Sarah and Steve toiled laboriously and cleaned a part of the property. There was a lot to be done. Each day when Steve went to bed, his body ached with the toll of the day. Every evening when he came for dinner, sweating and smelling after a whole day of picking hay, cleaning, chasing animals and building enclosures, he devoured his meals. Ana would smile at him and serve him extra portions of food. . The meals at Stark household were regular and healthy and they had access to the pantry, provided they did not indulge in extravagance. Ana was a kind woman and offered Steve good portions of meat claiming that he was a growing boy and would need more nutrition.  
  
Steve did most of the manual labour himself. He didn’t want his mother carrying around weights and doing too much work. While she certainly wasn’t old, she wasn’t too young to crouch and work on the field and not feel the ache at night.  
  
Which is why, on evenings like this, exhausted from a whole day of work, he would get positively infuriated when Anthony would make his way to the kitchen. That boy was insufferable. He was never seen around the house. Probably too busy staying in his room, doing nothing. He could do absolutely nothing for the rest of his life and his inheritance would still last him for three generations.  
  
The boy would never know what it felt like being uprooted from all that you’ve known in your short life and forced to be moved cross country because opportunities were better in the latter. The boy would never know what it was like to see his mother struggle and work to put food in their bellies. The boy would never know what it was like to lose a father simply because you could not afford a better doctor.  
  
The boy came into the servant’s kitchen almost every evening. Some evenings, he would eat with Ana and Edwin. It didn’t make sense to Steve. He knew Ana made a different meal for the Starks. He had seen her make fancy things with ingredients he had never heard of it and had seen Jarvis carry them to the main dining area. Steve didn’t understand why the boy would eat here. Maybe he was eating two meals. But that wouldn’t make sense because the body was skinny and short. Most evenings though, he just came and sat with the Jarvis couple. He would sit and chat while Edwin and Ana would eat and pay attention to his ramblings.  
  
Steve absolutely hated it. He knew how hard Jarvis worked the whole day. The man practically ran the whole household. Steve knew how tiring it was to work the whole day and how absolutely gratifying it was to be able to sit back and relax and enjoy a meal at the end of the day. At his young age, Steve could feel the toll of the day seeping into his body. Jarvis was much older and it must be exhausting for the man to work so much. And yet, the boy would come each evening and chew their ear off. The boy probably just assumed that everyone lived at his disposal and he had the authority to irritate anyone how much ever he wanted.  
  
Today, Steve was supposed to clean and arrange the horse enclosures. There were a few final touches remaining and then the enclosure would be complete. With the horse side of the barn arranged, they could start work on the cattle pen. It was important to get the bigger animals out of the way before moving to work on the smaller ones. They had been in employment for a month now. Steve’s Ma was worried that if they didn’t show proof of their work, they would be robbed of the job and replaced in the blink of an eye. The work was however, not easy. The horse were of good breed and were docile. They were very easy to take care of. But sometimes, Steve would walk into the barn in the morning to take the horses out and they would be very agitated. They would fight against Steve and stomp their hoof in disapproval. Those mornings, Steve would wish animals spoke his language so they could tell him what their problem was and he could find a solution instead of having to push and pull the horse to comply with his command. This morning too, Steve faced the same problem. If he could get the horse to move out of their enclosure, he would be able to start on his work. It was almost time for school and Steve was not able to make any progress. He had to relent and leave because he was getting late for class, which he ended up being late for anyway and had to sit through ten torturous minutes of his teacher yelling at him for not being on time. After getting home, he tried to work again but with the sun coming down and the lights being insufficient, he had to stop his work.  
  
Steve sighed. He hated this. A whole day wasted and no progress made.  
  
With his head hanging low, he made his way to the kitchen. Sarah sometimes helped Ana prepare meals, seeing that the woman genuinely cared about her son. Steve hoped he’d find her there. He would apologize to Ma. He knew she wouldn’t hold it against him, but he felt as though he had let her down.  
  
He was walking down the hallway when someone bumped into him. Steve staggered back but the person in front of him fell to the ground. Steve immediately offered his hand and helped the person up.  
  
“Oh my God. I am so sorry, are you alright?” he asked in concern.  
  
The person got up on their feet and straightened their clothes and looked up.  
  
Of course. It had to be him.  
  
He couldn’t even bother to see where he was walking.  
  
Steve could feel anger boil in him. He had a long, hard, tiring day. All he wanted was to apologize to his ma, sleep and try again the next day. And here he was. Face to face with this boy who did nothing but stay cooped up in his room, basking in the glory of all that life offered him, skipping down the hallway without a care for the world.  
  
“Are you blind? Can’t you watch where you’re going?” he asked.  
  
“Hey. No need to be mean. You were distracted too.”  
  
“Oh so this is my fault?” Steve asked incredulously. The boy was incorrigible.  
  
“What? No! I only meant that we were both not paying attention. There is no reason to be sour at me. Now, if you could move, I will be on my way.” The boy moved to walk past him.  
  
Oh hell no. Steve wouldn’t let him off so easy.  
  
“Yeah? Going to the kitchen, are you? To do what? Chew Ana and Edwin’s ear off?” Steve asked. The boy stopped mid stride and turned back to face Steve. “You come in here every evening, intruding on our dinner time with your rambling about your precious school and precious friend and what not. Do you even know how hard some of us work every day? Have you bothered to think about Emily and Adam whose job is to clean this whole house of yours, floors, shelf, tiles and all? Do you have any idea how hard some of us work? Of course you don’t. We toil every day and come here to eat and relax before retiring for the much deserved sleep and you just waltz in her with your stories and assume that everyone has time for your shit.”  
  
Steve breathed. The boy in front of him gaped at him like a fish. After Steve was done ranting, he noticed that Anthony’s lips were shaking.  
  
“I am sorry” the boy muttered and ran past Steve, back into the main part of the house. Steve briefly caught the reflection of tears on the boy’s cheek as he turned and ran into the hallway that separated the front of the house and the servant’s quarters.  
  
………………….  
  
Steve stared at the damned cat.  
  
It all made sense now.  
  
The cat probably ran around the whole barn, chasing the chicken around and disturbing the horses and in general, making Steve’s job very, very difficult.  
  
The grey hellion looked at Steve and growled, as if challenging the human’s authority. Steve growled back and pounced on the cat. The thing shimmied in his hands and slipped past his grip like it was made of fluid matter.  
  
Steve wondered how he missed the cat’s presence before. Even though the barn was huge and he had still not touched some portions of it, he should have been able to notice a cat, considering the mess it was creating.  
  
Steve chased the cat for what seemed like hours and lost its track at some point. The cat ran to a desolated corner of the barn. Steve knew it would be hard to catch the cat if it went in that corner. That was where most the hay was stored. Steve and his ma were still working in other parts of the barn and this part was relatively untouched. The cat had plenty of place to hide under the mount of hay and that is precisely what the monster did.  
  
Steve jumped upon the pile of hay in one corner where he thought he spotted the cat’s ear. He landed on something stiff, something that was not as malleable as the hay but not as hard as the floor. He stood up to examine what he was. Digging under the heap, he located a bag and a blanket.  
  
The cat completely forgotten, he dug into his discovery. There was a blanket on the floor. It was a thick blanket and seemed to have been used quite a lot. Steve opened the bag and found two sweaters, thick and warming, two shirts and a pair of pants, two bottles of water, a container with snacks, two apples, a few pair of mismatched socks, three books and a tube of medicine.  
  
Steve had no idea what to make of it. It would appear as though someone was using the barn as a shelter. What if the Stark manor had an intruder? One who camped in the property in the dark of the night? It would make complete sense. The barn was barely touched, was completely mismanaged and was located close to the main home and had plenty of place to hide.  
  
Steve thought about all the hours his mother and he worked here. What if the person had been here the whole time?  
  
A chill rose up his spine and Steve stiffened.  
  
Something was going on here and he was going to find out what it was.  
  
…………..  
  
Tony hummed under his breath.  
  
It was some song he had heard on the radio a few days ago and the tune had been stuck in his head. The hummed ad his fingers moved with expertise over the crappy piece of machinery he was working on.  
  
Tony had learned a lot of interesting things about magnetic fields and circuit boards today. He had stayed beyond his school hours in the physics lab and was testing out the theories that were taught in the class. Mr Coulson, their science teacher, usually let Tony use the lab as much as he wanted, seeing that the boy really loved tinkering around and never made a mess of the lab and was very respectful of all the resources he was offered. Mr Coulson also knew that trying to stop the boy was futile, that little brunette would find his way into the lab one way or the other. There was once a time when the school was hosting a football match against a rival school. The main building of the school had been locked and everyone’s attention had been towards the game. When security came to close the building after the game, (which their school won, obviously) they found a disheveled Anthony Stark working in the lab. The boy sat on a bench, hunched over his project, his knee scrapped (likely from climbing in through the window) and his clothes and hair in disarray. When called to the principal’s office, he told Mr Fury that he had found an anomaly in a physics calculation and wanted to experiment it in the lab. The whole school administration did not know what to make of the boy. His teachers spoke in hushed whispers about the bruises the boy would spot sometimes. He tried to cover them up but when you came to school wearing long sleeve shirts in summer, it was bound to raise a few brows. The boy sometimes tried covering the bruises up with makeup powder but after an hour of gym class, the sweat would wash away the remnants of pretense and the secret would be out for the world to see. His friends were either oblivious or were simply ignoring it but the teachers knew better. They also knew that reporting the abuse would benefit none. Howard Stark would raise hell for the school, probably even buy it out to suppress his lack of parenting skills and at the end of it, the boy would be in more trouble. So the teachers did all they could to accommodate the boy. They let him use the lab for as long as he wanted and let him stay on campus after hours. He had access to all and every equipment he required and was left alone to put his genius to fruition. He did, after all, bring the school several accolades and awards and was their star student.  
  
Today Tony wanted to apply what he had learned about circuit boards to the old trashy personal computer that was rotting in the store. The thing was heavy and he couldn’t carry it to his room so he relented and bought all his tools to the store to work there. First he had to fix the light in the room. The place was dark and Tony needed several bright lights to be able to work properly. He had been sitting and taking apart the thing and fixing it piece by piece. He had evidently lost track of time.  
  
His parents began their daily tirade and Tony could hear their voice being carried through the house to where Tony sat. The storage room was near the far end of the dining area, which meant that fight was likely taking place there. Tony considered his options. No one knew Tony was here. Neither of his parents had any reason to check for him here. Which meant that Tony was likely safe here. He sat against the wall of the storage room, the wall on the other side of which was the dining area, where his parents were. He did not make any noise and waiting for the argument to cease. The voices just kept rising and Tony winced at the tone. His heart began speeding up involuntarily and even though the logical part of him knew he was safe, he could feel his heartbeat and knew he was hyperventilating.  
  
_CRASH_  
  
Tony’s body jerked at the sound. He stood and turned around to face the wall he was leaning against, as if he could see through it into the hall.  
  
_CRASH_  
  
Tony took a step back, trying to distance himself from whatever was happening on the other side of the wall.  
  
_CRASH_  
  
Glasses. Someone was throwing glasses at the wall. Heavy, solid ones, with so much force that the impact was likely breaking them to pieces.  
  
_CRASH_  
  
Tony thought of the china cabinet in the room, the one that stored the fancy plates and glasses and utensils that were used for hosting guests and fancy dinner.  
  
_CRASH_  
  
The crashes were getting louder and louder and Tony felt as if the wall would dissipate and the utensils would come flying towards him. With every crash, his heart began speeding up and he felt more and more unsafe.  
  
He could feel each blow’s impression on him.  
  
_CRASH_  
  
_CRASH_  
  
_CRASH_  
  
_CRASH_  
  
_CRASH_  
  
After a while, the chaos finally ceased. Tony couldn’t hear his parents anymore. He waited for a while and opened the door cautiously and peeked out. His parents had indeed left the room. He walked out with soft steps and looked into the dining area.  
  
His breath got caught in his throat. The wall facing the storage room had remnants of the entire china cabinet lying at its foot. Pieces of glass and china were thrown about everyone. The whole area was a mess. The doors of the china cabinet were open and all its contents were on the floor, in shreds.  
  
Tony stared dumbly at the wall. There were marks on the wall where the glass had hit the wall. On the beige wallpaper, there was a mark, roughly two inches in length, dark and brown on the pall face of the wall. Tony walked over the glass to the wall and brushed his fingers on the wall. He had a similar scar on his back, towards his right side, from the time Howard had pushed him towards a cabinet and the rough edge of the corner had scrapped his side. Tony traced the scar on the wall, so much like the one on his body.  
  
Just another remnant of Howard Stark’s wrath.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone. I might write a little slow this week. I have finals this weekend and I need to focus on them. I will keep writing but I can't guarantee a frequent update this week. Hope y'all understand.


	4. Chapter four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jarvis demands to know why Anthony has been missing dinner time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, I am so sorry I haven't uploaded in a while. I was struggling to understand how to structure this chapter but I am happy with the outcome. Also, I had few exams left for my grad course and now that I am done with that, expect more chapters coming in.

Tony sneaked into the barn when no one was looking.  
  
The last few days, he had been able to hide away in the storage room, tinkering with the scraps of electronics he had salvaged from his school. He knew his school sometimes threw old radios and other equipment away and Mr Coulson let Tony take them home. The storage room was obscure enough and the shelves were wide enough that he could hide behind them if he needed cover. Fortunately, no one had discovered Tony’s recent hiding spot. So he stayed there for as long as he could.  
  
After what the boy told him the other day, Tony had stopped going to the kitchens. Tony had never hesitated from going to the kitchen before. Jarvis and Ana were a constant in his life since the day he was born. Tony still remembered the day he fell from his cycle, got yelled at by Howard and later was consoled by Jarvis. He remembered going to bed that night, feeling so angry at God for not making Jarvis his father. He had never thought that him going to the kitchen in the evening was an _intrusion_. It was something he had done since forever. It wasn’t even about the food. Tony was served fancy food at his parent’s table. It was the atmosphere at the table that made the food unappetising. When Tony was forced to dine with his parents, he hated the mood they would bring to the dinner table. His father would always be talking about his company and his _legacy_ and his mother would be making careful remarks so as to not raise his snide. It seemed as though the whole thing was a charade of him and his mother walking on eggshells, not letting Howard get angry. Dinner with Jarvis was a different story. Ana was always listening to him, no matter what he was talking about. Jarvis was always asking him about school and his friends. Ana and Jarvis would also share tidbits of their day but the conversation would almost always be dominated by Tony’s stories and the both never seemed to take it badly. Moreover, sometimes Ana would brush his hair out of his face or pat him on the shoulder gently or cup his face and he would catch her looking at him with an emotion he had never seen his parents display. Care. Concern. Sympathy. _Love._  
  
Sometimes sitting with them at dinner, Tony could pretend they were his family.  
  
It wasn’t as if he hadn’t noticed the blond boy glaring at him across the room. Tony was used to having the other people in the dining area. It was, after all, a space shared by all of the household help. But most of them had gotten used to seeing Tony around and paid no mind to his comings and goings. Tony had noticed the blond woman sitting with her son in the corner and when he had asked about them, Jarvis had only said that they were going to help with the barn.  
  
Tony had figured that the boy was merely jealous of him. Lot of people were and it was nothing new for Tony. He always had people assuming that given his father’s wealth, Tony had the world at his feet. Tony knew his father’s money put him at a better position. He had access to better resources that half the country. He had food on his plate and a roof over his head and Tony knew there people who couldn’t afford that. But that certainly did not mean that Tony had the world at his disposal. Anyone who thought so was welcome to witness what occurred in the Stark household behind closed doors. So, Tony saw the blond boy glaring at him, and merely shrugged it off. He went to the kitchen to spend time with Ana and Jarvis, not some blond boy.  
  
The day when he crashed into the boy, Tony had been on his way to tell Ana about the incident in school where Thor had finally asked Jane out on a date. It was an important news and was the talk of Shield Secondary School and Tony had to tell Ana about it, especially the way in which Thor had gotten down on one knee and asked in a very medieval way “My lady Jane, will you do the honour of being my company for dining for an evening a week from now?” Tony had thought it was outright hilarious. But then he’d met the boy and some things he had told him and hurt Tony. And every time that he wanted to go to the kitchen, he would walk down the servant’s quarters and wait in the hallway. For every day of the last week, he’d never gone farther than the entrance of the hallway.  
  
So Tony had spent an entire week not going to the kitchen and spending time in the storage room.  
  
Today, his parents had invited guests over to their house. It was to be an intimate affair of thirty odd people. Tony had stood watching the china cabinet being replaced when his mother had called him aside. She had taken him to her room and checked him for bruises and covered them up with her makeup. It wouldn’t do well for Tony’s bruises to be seen in public. Some things were meant to be within the family.  
  
He had met and greeted all of the guests. He had charmed them with his advanced knowledge of electronics and physics. His father had paraded him around his friends, showing them his prodigal son. It was one of the very few times Tony felt his father’s validation and soaked it all up. In some time, all the men separated and began drinking and the woman sat in another room with glasses of wine in their hands, discussing mundane things. Tony found himself being lost in both the rooms. He did not want to stay with his father’s company. Their drunken rambling made him feel vulnerable and the women’s conversation did not interest him.  
  
And that’s how he found himself wandering to the barn.  
  
The place was quite different from the last time he had been here. The last time that he was here, the place was a mess. Now, everything looked more organized. The horses had individual pens and their enclosures were cleaner. He took the stool from the corner of the barn and placed them next to the horses and climbed on them to reach the animals better. He brushed the horse’s mane and spoke to them softly. The pet some of the donkeys next and checked on the lambs. Some of the lambs were growing big and Tony would hate the day they would become too big to fit in his lap properly. He was petting one of his favourite lambs when Butterfingers walked up to him. The kitten brushed herself against Tony’s thigh and purred softly. Tony picked the kitten up and began walking to his side of the barn when he heard someone call him from behind.  
  
“Young Master?”  
  
Tony turned around to find Jarvis standing at the entrance of the barn.  
  
“Jarvis? What are you doing here? Is the party over?” Tony asked as he walked to the chairs that were kept in the corner of the barn. Jarvis never indicated that the man knew about Tony’s escapes to the barn but considering that the man knew every nook and cranny of the property, it wouldn’t be surprising if the man knew everything already.  
  
He saw Jarvis walk towards him.  
  
“It is far from over but seeing that most men are too lost in discussion to order anything and the women are too busy arguing, I excused myself. The rest of the staff can handle everything else.”  
  
Tony brushed Butterfinger’s furs softly.  
  
“So, why are you here?” he asked Jarvis.  
  
Jarvis sat on the chair next to the one Tony sat on and turned to face the young boy.  
  
“Anthony, why haven’t you come to the kitchen lately?”  
  
Tony’s eyes grew round at the question. He ducked his head and answered.  
  
“I did not want to disturb you all.”  
  
“ _Disturb?_? Tony, what are you talking about?”  
  
“I just…. You work so hard Jarvis. You must be tired after a whole day of toiling. I didn’t want to go to you on your dinner time and bore you with the stories of my school.”  
  
“ _Bore me?_ Anthony, Ana and I love to hear about your days. Remember when you told us about Bruce pouring that green chemical all over himself, so much so that it wouldn’t come off for days and you all ended up nicknaming him the Hulk? Ana and I had such a good laugh that day. And Rhodey and his attempts at wooing Carol are always so funny. How can you think any of that doesn’t interest us?”  
  
The boy kept looking down and hugged the kitten to himself. Jarvis realized there was something else at play. Anthony had always been a pleasant company at dinner. After a whole day of working, Jarvis always looked forward to spending time with his family. He would sit back and relax as he saw Ana and Anthony interact. They were the source of his happiness. And without Anthony on the table, something seemed off about dinner time to the both of them. They found themselves losing their appetite. They blamed their age but they knew they weren’t eating because their dinner guest was missing. And where had Anthony picked up this entire notion about him being a bother?  
  
“Anthony, did someone say something to you?”  
  
The young man remained silent.  
  
“Anthony, please tell me.”  
  
“The blond boy. Who sits at the dinner table told me I disturb everyone in the room.” Anthony mumbled.  
  
Jarvis looked at the boy in front of him. He supposed that to someone who didn’t know about the household dynamics, Anthony’s presence would have been misunderstood. Adolescence was a time of miscommunications and outburst. Rational adults could speak about their feelings clearly. But for boys as young as Steven and Anthony, antagonism was bound to happen. He didn’t fault Steven for his misunderstanding. He would talk to the young man later, but for now, he had to take care of Anthony.  
  
“Young Master, do you know that you fell sick once when you were four? You caught the pox.” He saw the boy lift his head up a little and knew he had caught his attention. “The doctors did everything they could but there wasn’t much to be done. We had to wait for the pox to dry. We had to sit and watch your tiny body wreck with sobs. We made you wear gloves so you wouldn’t scratch yourself. I had to drag Ana away from your room because she was stuck to the door, crying over you. I took her to bed and held her till she fell asleep. I woke up sometime in the middle of the night and couldn’t find her beside me. She had snuck away to meet you, Anthony.” At the mention of his name, the boy looked up. “I found her curled around you, shushing you and running her palms across your back. She nursed you back to health. Ended up catching the pox herself but thanked all the Gods in the world when you were declared to be healthy again.”  
  
Jarvis waited a moment before continuing.  
  
“You think the woman who cried and fussed over you so much, she ended up catching the disease herself won’t be hurt that you haven’t come to meet her for a whole week?”  
  
Anthony shook his head slowly.  
  
“Steven doesn’t know you, Anthony. He doesn’t know how much you mean to us. Please come meet us tomorrow, Anthony.”  
  
Jarvis patted the boy on his knee and left the barn.  
  
………………………  
  
Ana picked the peas from the pod.  
  
She sat on the table with a basket of empty pods on one side and a bowl of peas on one side. She hummed a melody and worked silently. The day was very pleasant with ample sunlight. The weather was starting to move to Spring. Some days were tilting more towards winter, with a chill in the air. Some days it would be sunny. Today was on such day. Ana sat next to the window, soaking up the sunlight.  
  
“Ana?”  
  
Ana turned to the voice from the doorway and saw Anthony standing there, his right hand holding the side of his shirt tightly.  
  
Ana pushed the chair at once and got up and walked to the boy. She knelt in front of him.  
  
“Young Master, are you alright? You didn’t come to meet me for the past few days. I was so worried. Did the master do something again? Do you still have the tube of medicine I gave you? Did you apply it? I thought something happened. You always meet me, Anthony. I was so worried when you didn’t show up for so many d…”  
  
She was interrupted by the force of the hug the boy gave her. He barrelled to her chest and Ana’s arms went around his lithe figure and she brought him closer to herself.  
  
She buried her nose in his hair. Anthony was growing taller but crouched on the floor with her, he was just a small boy. She inhaled his presence. Lavender, from his soap. Lemon, from his shampoo and barn and horses and endearment and all the wonderful things that made the boy smell like _home_. She tightened her arms, attempting to keep him for her forever.  
  
“I am so sorry, Ana.”  
  
“All is forgiven, sweet one.” She said, brushing her hands through his hair.  
  
………….  
  
Neither noticed the boy standing by the door, watching everything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I could write endless amounts of chapters of young Tony deserving all the love in the world. x

**Author's Note:**

> Thoughts? Comments? Criticism?


End file.
